Springboks predicted team: Rassie Erasmus to ring the changes and give veterans minutes against Argentina
Springboks veterans Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager with an inset of head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Ahead of the Springboks’ final game before the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series with the All Blacks, Rassie Erasmus’ charges tackle Argentina in Buenos Aires.
South Africa’s head coach spoke to the media this week and dropped a few hints on who could be featuring against Los Pumas in the one-off Test match.
Armed with that information, we take a punt at who Erasmus could be selecting for the final game before they go toe-to-toe with the All Blacks – whilst realising that this may well be a fool’s errand.
Predicted backs to face Argentina
15 Quan Horn
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the Springboks coaching team value the skill-set that Quan Horn possesses and aim to make use of his playmaking and kicking prowess, as well as his versatility.
He started the first game of the year at fly-half and then came off the bench against Scotland in the same position, pushing Handre Pollard out a channel in doing so. However, the Lions star’s main position is full-back, and we are yet to see him feature in that role for the Green and Gold this year. The big question is whether the coaching team needs to see that before the All Blacks Tests or not. If it’s the latter, then Aphelele Fassi could possibly still need some more match minutes to find some form after his underwhelming performances on his return from injury.
Damian Willemse is another alternative, but he featured in all three Nations Championship matches, as are Kurt-Lee Arendse, Edwill van der Merwe and Cheslin Kolbe, who are all capable of filling the position too but are unlikely to do so given that they are seen more as wingers in the set-up.
14 Ethan Hooker
Erasmus explained that it was ‘not ideal’ that the match against Argentina would need to be used to get minutes into the legs of certain players, but those are the cards he has been dealt, and one player that he’d be eager to see in action is Ethan Hooker, who missed the tail-end of the Sharks season due to a dislocated shoulder.
He returned ahead of schedule against Scotland but then suffered a fresh setback and wasn’t seen again in the Nations Championship. Hooker impressed in Green and Gold last year, and Erasmus has expressed his desire to see him feature in the Bok midfield before the All Blacks series. However, we could see him turn out on the wing considering that there are other midfielders in need of minutes too.
13 Canan Moodie
That brings us to Canan Moodie, who could easily interchange with Hooker on the pitch and/or on the teamsheet. The duo could even be partnered in the centres like they were against Italy last November.
The Bulls utility back battled with illness and injury this month, limiting his involvement to just one appearance from the bench. Jesse Kriel donned the number 13 jersey throughout the Nations Championship and against the Barbarians, and quite simply, the Boks need a fresh face in there, whether it’s Moodie or Hooker. That’s no slight on Kriel’s performances; he was excellent, but rotation has been a crucial aspect of this Bok coaching set-up.
12 Andre Esterhuizen
It could very well be Hooker donning the 12 jersey, hell even Handre Pollard, but signs do point to Andre Esterhuizen. It would be a real shock to see Damian de Allende’s name featuring on the teamsheet, considering his next cap would be his 100th and Erasmus does have a capacity for sentimentality with these kinds of milestones when it’s controllable, and in this case, there are too many options not to delay his 100th cap for a home game against the old foe.
So why Esterhuizen in the centres? The Sharks skipper did feature in the role against the Baa-Baas and then came off the bench in the back-row against England, but he sustained a cheekbone injury which he has recovered from. Erasmus hinted that many of the injured players would get a run-out against Los Pumas and Esterhuizen’s inclusion does make sense in that regard.
11 Kurt-Lee Arendse
Honestly, a pure guess. It could be any one of Arendse, Van der Merwe or Kolbe. Jaco Williams has been released to the Sharks, so those are the remaining options unless Horn is thrown onto the wing, which seems unlikely. The same could be said of Fassie. Van der Merwe has a strong case too, having only played against Scotland while Arendse featured against England and Wales. Erasmus and co. can’t really go wrong here.
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
It would be a shock not to see Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the matchday 23 considering that he is fit again and hasn’t played since the Stormers’ quarter-final against Cardiff in May. If he is in fact back to full fitness, he will almost surely be in the 10 or 22 jumper; if it’s the former, it’s far easier to manage his minutes.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was the go-to selection at 10 for the Springboks last year, and while it’s possible that he could be thrown back into the mix against the All Blacks, it’s highly unlikely.
9 Morne van den Berg
While Morne van den Berg isn’t the most popular scrum-half amongst the Springboks fans, the coaching staff clearly admire his skill set. He spent the entire 2025 season with the Springboks and earned just four caps. However, he is clearly valued by the staff and hasn’t played since May due to injury. Grant Williams and Cobus Reinach got a fair amount of minutes in the Nations Championship, and having just regained his fitness, surely we will see Van den Berg tackle the Pumas.
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8 Cam Hanekom
After missing the entirety of last year due to injury, 2026 was primed to be Cameron Hanekom’s breakout season in Green and Gold. The Bulls man has an incredible skill-set and is bound to have a long career in the Springboks jersey as long as his body holds up. He started on the side of the scrum against England and perhaps that’s where he will feature long-term for the Boks but we predict that he will get the nod in the number eight jersey against the Pumas.
He was overlooked for the matches against Scotland and Wales in July but surely the Bok coaches will want to give him another run before the All Blacks series and the Pumas provide a perfect litmus test.
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7 Ben-Jason Dixon
Pieter-Steph du Toit was in fine form in July and, having played all three matches and a full 80 minutes each time, the number seven jersey is bound to change hands. Ben-Jason Dixon impressed with his cameos off the bench, where he covered at lock too, and could well be the frontrunner to replace Du Toit. Erasmus has options in Vincent Tshituka and Elrigh Louw, but we predict that they will feature from the bench.
6 Siya Kolisi (c)
Having missed all three Nations Championship matches due to injury, Siya Kolisi could do with some game time. Paul de Villiers shone in his absence, but Kolisi remains the first-choice number six for the Springboks and the team’s captain. The only reason we could see him missing this match is if the coaching team feels it’s better to keep him on ice with the knowledge that he can hit the ground sprinting against the All Blacks.
A player of Kolisi’s experience is capable of hitting form immediately after injury, and he has done so before, but as mentioned above, Erasmus hinted that most of the players returning from injury would be fronting up against the Pumas.
5 Lood de Jager
It is for that reason that we predict that Lood de Jager will also get the nod in the second-row. It’s still rather remarkable that the lock has 71 Test caps under his belt considering just how many unfortunate setbacks he has had over his career, and 2026 has been another troublesome spell for the 33-year-old who played just once for his Japanese club, the Saitama Wild Knights – that was their final game of the season, the bronze final of the Japan Rugby League One.
When fit, De Jager is still one of the best lineout operators in the game and is quite a bulky number five lock – which makes him a real asset for Erasmus. The injury crisis at lock has eased with De Jager and Eben Etzebeth’s returns, but the pair are both in dire need of minutes.
4 Eben Etzebeth
De Jager and Etzebeth are the second most capped lock pairing in the history of the Springboks, packing down together in the engine room 42 times previously. That number will surely rise in the Argentine capital. Like De Jager, Etzebeth has barely played any rugby since last November due to suspension and injury. If he is over his concussion concerns, Etzebeth will almost certainly tackle the Pumas.
With Franco Mostert still sidelined and Du Toit bound to be rested, Cobus Wiese is the only other option to fill the number four jersey.
3 Thomas du Toit
Surprising absent for the fixtures against Scotland and Wales after starting the opening Nations Championship match against England. Thomas du Toit was the first-choice number three last season for the Springboks and could return to the starting XV as part of the rotation.
Zachary Porthen, Wilco Louw and Carlu Sadie are the other tightheads in the squad. Porthen has come off the bench in the first three Bok games of the year, Louw played against Scotland and Wales while Sadie featured against the Baa-Baas and Wales.
With Du Toit playing just once so far in Green and Gold, it would make sense that he gets the same playing time as the rest before the RGR series.
2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
One of the more challenging positions to predict, as Erasmus may use the Argentina game to experiment with Marco van Staden at hooker. After releasing Andre-Hugo Venter, there are just two out-and-out hookers in the squad in Malcolm Marx and Johan Grobbelaar. Marx looked sharp against England and Wales and is surely not going to be risked against Los Pumas considering how crucial he is to the Springboks.
This leads us to predict that Jan-Hendrik Wessels will get the nod for the starting number two jersey. Wessels has come off the bench in his last 10 appearances for the Boks after starting his first two appearances at loosehead. Starting the utility front-rower against the Pumas will give the coaching team answers around his lineout capabilities. It’s plainly obvious that Marx is the best hooker the Springboks have, but who his back-up is remains unclear following Bongi Mbonambi’s decline.
1 Boan Venter
After the victory over Scotland, Erasmus said that Boan Venter was lacking game time, with the head coach revealing that they made plans to replace him during the first half. They abandoned that ploy when seeing how much work he was getting through. However, he did not feature against Wales and with Ox Nche set to miss this game, Venter looks to be the obvious choice at loosehead.
The bench
16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Vincent Tshituka, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Aphelele Fassi
The starting XV was difficult to predict in itself, but the bench is even more so. A traditional 5-3 split looks to be on the cards with Johan Grobbelaar likely to be the back-up hooker. Gerhard Steenekamp got through his fair share of work in July, and with Nche not making the trip to Argentina, the recalled Ntuthuko Mchunu is bound to feature.
The replacement tighthead role is surely going to one of Wilco Louw and Sadie; we predict the former. With the limited number of locks in the squad, Tshituka and Elrigh Louw could both be included on the bench, with Dixon also covering that position. Cobus Wiese could also come into the mix.
There are plenty of permutations on the bench, but we predict a 5-3 split with Herschel Jantjies, Manie Libbok and Fassi providing back-line cover.
